Class of 2012: Bosse-de-Nage - III

The Bay Area's Bosse-de-Nage is a bit of an enigma.  This four-piece doesn't seem to play live, nor do they do any sort of promotions for their recordings.  They play blackened math rock, and this album was obviously recorded under the Slint-fluence.

"The Arborist" gets III off to a pretty good start.  It shows what the band can do and highlights what they do well.

"Desuetude" comes next and is, without a doubt, the strongest track on the album.  If I didn't know any better, after hearing the first 30 seconds, I would have been convinced that this was Japandroids.  III needs more songs like this one.  What's interesting is that this is the only song that doesn't feature any spoken vocals, and it's the best song on the record.

"Perceive There A Silence" slows things down a bit but is nevertheless solid.  This is where the math-rock part becomes more prominent.

The album, however, fall apart over the next two songs, "Cells" and "The God Ennui."  Each song's first half is very Slint-like, but the spoken vocals are simply too monotone and become tiresome very quickly.

Although it drags a bit at the end, "An Ideal Ledge" brings the record to a close fairly well.  The drumming sounds great over the course of III, but it really stands out here.

Bosse-de-Nage can do better.  For the most part, their formula works.  If they could eliminate or significantly reduce the spoken vocals, then their blackened math rock equation would be solved.

Grade: D+  (68.3%)